Han Xiaoying
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Han Xiaoying(韓小瑩) is a character in the wuxia novel Legend of the Condor Heroes written by Louis Cha.
She was the youngest and only female member of the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan. Han Baoju, another member of the Freaks, was her elder cousin. Nicknamed the 'Yue Sword Maiden'(越女劍), Hao Xiaoying was an expert in martial arts, particularly in the Yue Maiden Swordplay. She was described in the novel as being chilvarous and friendly, with a much more masculine character as compared to other women of her time. She wielded a sword in battle.
Once, the Freaks made an agreement with Qiu Chuji to track down the widows and unborn sons of Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin respectively, train the boys into fine martial artists and meet again in eighteen years time for a contest between the two young men. After a long and hard period of searching, the Freaks eventually found Li Ping, the widow of Guo Xiaotian, and her son Guo Jing in Mongolia. The Freaks were initially overjoyed upon finding Guo Jing, but were disappointed when they found out that he was actually quite slow-witted and might not be able to learn martial arts well.
Han Xiaoying was known to be in love with Zhang A'sheng, a member of the Seven Freaks. Once, Zhang A'sheng was mortally wounded in a battle with the evil 'Twin Ghosts in the Black Wind'(Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng). Before his death, Han Xiaoying expressed her willingness to marry him with tears in her eyes but Zhang rejected her and died.
Nevertheless, the Freaks managed to teach Guo Jing some basic martial arts. Once, Guo Jing was mistaken for being in league with the evil Mei Chaofeng, who was responsible for the death of Zhang A'sheng. They had noticed that Guo Jing knew 'Neigong'(內功), or internal energy, when they realised that they had only taught him basic martial arts only and never taught him anything about neigong. The Freaks suspected that Guo Jing had been learning from Mei Chaofeng and laid an ambush, wanting to kill Guo Jing to prevent further trouble. Han Xiaoying was quite kind-hearted by nature and unwilling to kill her disciple Guo Jing, so she flung herself in front of Guo Jing to protect him. Eventually, the Freaks realised that they had wronged Guo Jing and had almost killed their disciple.
Later in the novel, Guo Jing left Mongolia with the Freaks and went to China where he had his own adventures. Han Xiaoying died by committing suicide with her sword on Peach Blossom Island along with Zhu Cong, Quan Jinfa, Han Baoju and Nan Xiren, whose deaths were caused by Ouyang Feng and Yang Kang.
